How To Secure Your Facebook Account: 7 Easy Tips

Facebook is the biggest social networking site on the web with over one billion users. Due to the sheer amount of personal data that the site holds, it is a prime target of hackers and criminals who want to steal identities (as well as other personal data) and use them for unlawful activities. Considering the stakes, it makes sense to learn how to secure your Facebook account so that you don’t have to regret later. Here are some easy to follow security tips to keep your Facebook account safe:

Tip #1: Use A Strong Password
A strong password is your best defense against hackers and sniffing programs programs. Do not use a password that contains your name, location, date of birth, name of your spouse or pet or any other information that can be readily obtained through your Facebook profile. Make sure to include numbers, alphabets and special characters in your password so that your password cannot be hacked even by brute force attacks. Also, remember not to share your password with anyone and not to use the same password for your email and Facebook accounts.

Tip #2: Share Information With Care
Be careful of sharing your personal information and photos with total strangers. In order to check whether your personal details and photos are visible to the general public, log out of your Facebook account, browse to your profile and note down the details that are visible. After this, log into your Facebook account once again and change your privacy settings in such a way that your photos and personal details can be seen only by your friends.

Tip #3: Safety At Public Places
Do not use “Keep me logged in” option especially from shared computers or internet cafes. Ideally, you should avoid logging into your Facebook from an unsecured network or computer but if you need to log into your account from such a place, consider using a VPN service to safeguard your account. It is incredibly easy for hackers and sniffing programs to capture your login data at public Wi-Fi hotspots so you need to use additional safety measures to safeguard your account. Also, you must remember to sign out of Facebook after your session is complete so that your session or personal details cannot be hijacked by criminals.

Tip #4: Stay Away From Suspicious Apps And Links
Do not click on malicious links or share your data with fake apps even if they are recommended or shared by your friends. There are tons of fake apps on Facebook that are designed to steal data and post on your behalf so you need to be very careful while using them. Do not forget to report an unsafe app to the Facebook team so that they can investigate and delete it from the site.

Tip #5: Avoid Unknown People
Do not accept friendship requests from unknown people. There are lots of fake profiles on Facebook that are created for the sole purpose of stealing identities from other people. A good rule of thumb is to befriend only those whom you know in real life.

Tip #6: Use Two Step Authentication
For enhanced security, you can use two step authentication process (login details + SMS Code) so that even if someone steals your Facebook login details, they won’t be log into your account. Facebook can also alert you if someone tries to access your account from a different location so make sure to use this feature.

Tip #7: Keep Your System Updated
Keep your OS, browser and FB apps updated and remember to use an anti-virus and firewall software. This will prevent hackers and malicious programs from making use of the latest security exploits and accessing your Facebook account without your knowledge.

If you abide by these seven simple steps, you’ll be in much better shape to keep your data secure. Nothing is fool-proof, however, so if you find that your data on Facebook has been comprised, you could always delete your account and create a new one as a last alternative.

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